RACC Blog

Coming to the Portland Building Installation Space: “Radical Positivity,” an installation by Larry Yes, April 25 – May 20.

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Picked for its punch of color and upbeat message, the Installation Space selection panel said “yes” to Larry, an artist whose work focuses on love and human connection, and can be described as a meditation on color and joy. The exhibition will cover the walls from floor to ceiling with “positive words” and symbols rendered on wood planks in the artist’s signature style—a combination of hand inscribed text, graphics, and color that scans the rainbow.

The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to http://racc.org/installationspace.

Jenna Reineking’s “Temporal Ecologies,” March 21 – April 15, heads up a new season of installations at the Portland Building

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PORTLAND, ORE – Artist Jenna Reineking’s upcoming installation in the lobby of the Portland Building, Temporal Ecologies, is designed to transform the architecture of the exhibition space into an activated environment; her choice of materials to accomplish this—the humble brown paper lunch bag: “I recently have become interested in creating systems using forms repeated in incremental units that can range from finite to infinite based on the constraints of the space.”

The choice to use inexpensive, readily accessible materials allows the artist to create environments that ask the viewer to revalue the mundane. Reineking’s process includes carefully manipulating or “sculpting” each bag and adhering them one by one to fit and transform the geometry of the Installation Space. She expects to use over 300 individual bags, “They will grow from the corners and utilize the walls, ceiling, and floor…and will be recycled upon completion of the exhibition.” In the process the artist hopes to transcend the “thing-ness” of these simple, overlooked manufactured goods and create a new set of biomorphic forms—design elements that are reminiscent of nature and living organisms but do not aim to directly reproduce them.

The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. Temporal Ecologies opens March 21st and runs through April 15th.


A New Season at the Installation Space:  Jenna Reineking’s installation kicks off a new season of exhibitions at the Portland Building. Over the course of the next year, nine artists will present installation based and experimental media installations in the small gallery space adjacent to the building’s lobby. Each four week long installation has been chosen by the program selection panel to present challenging and diverse work that encourages visitors to reexamine their expectations of what art is and can be.

New Season Schedule and Project Descriptions:

Jenna Reineking  March 21 – April 15, 2016

Temporal Ecologies – Description above

Larry Yes  April 25 – May 20, 2016

Radical Positivity – Picked for its punch of color and upbeat message, the selection panel said “yes” to Larry, an artist who’s work focuses on love and human connection and can be described as a meditation on color and joy. The installation will cover the walls of the space from floor to ceiling with positive words and symbols rendered in every color of the rainbow.

Hannah Hertrich  May 31 – June 24, 2016

Delicate Home – Many of us think of home as our foundation, an extension of self that is a base of stability, but is that perception based on reality? Hertrich’s Delicate Home explores the “fragility of self” by focusing on our notion of home. The installation stages a series of model houses constructed out of mirrors perilously set below gathering clouds of stone.

Yalena Roslaya  July 5 – August 5, 2016

Visual Sound – Roslaya will record sounds that occur within the Portland Building and translate them into sound waves sketched visually on the wall and rendered aurally via ceramic sound wave sculptures. Five of these sculptures will fill the space, each with a mp3 driver enclosed in the heart of the vessel. “The idea of visually displaying sound is inspired by my experience with hearing-motion synesthesia…I would like to share this experience with viewers through my installation and hear their response.”

Bukola Koiki  August 15 – September 9, 2016

JJC (Journey Just Come) – Koiki highlights the challenges immigrants face by spotlighting the linguistic slang and vernacular that people often need to learn and employ when navigating the spaces between and within disparate cultures. “As a Nigerian-American immigrant myself, I am particularly interested in pidgin, which is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that do not have a language in common…In Nigeria, a country of over 500 known languages, communication can be truly daunting at times.” To explore this idea of communication and miscommunication, the artist will fill the Installation Space with a profusion of brightly colored flags that showcase Pidgin English sayings extracted from the local language in Lagos, Nigeria.

Benz and Chang  September 19 – October 14, 2016

The Bridge, 1910 – Based on an archival photo of the Hawthorne Bridge under construction, Benz and Change offer a thoughtful and dynamic homage to the crews that built Portland’s oldest existing Willamette River crossing. The Bridge, a set of four, 8 foot by 6 foot, hand cut silhouettes crafted in wood, will extend from the back wall of the exhibition space to render a life-sized composite image of the historic photo.

Alex Luboff  November 14 – December 9, 2016

Pipeline Obstruction Pathway – Takes the form of large (one foot diameter), hand-build pipelines installed to purposefully obstruct and obscure entry into the exhibition space—a project that will get viewers thinking about all the energy infrastructure in our lives. Are the pipes, deftly assembled from plywood, a network of interlaced craft objects? Or are they elements of a dystopian “extractive energy landscape” we may be headed for?

Emily Myers  January 17 – February 10, 2017

Mechanical Rituals – A comment on just how industrial our food production cycle has become. Myers will install a set of computer controlled mutoscopes—mechanized flipbooks mounted on rotating cylinders—on a prominently positioned dining room table. The mutoscopes, which show scenes of the food we eat as it travels from farm to table, are animated automatically as viewers approach. “My proposal for Mechanical Rituals brings the process of industrialized agriculture, which is so far removed from society’s consciousness, into the modern dining room.”

Stephanie Simek  February 21 – March 17, 2017

Following on her work with optical illusions, holograms and science themes, Simek will create a custom built “table of holograms.” Optics hidden within her table will reflect images of common minerals upwards and cause them to appear to hover above the table surface. Simek sees her structure as a vitrine or a container for a kind of t​able of elements. ​“The choice of content is based on my previous work and interest in basic, elemental materials and their inherent potential. This often includes unusual and interesting physical properties like magnetic, electrical, and optical capabilities.  For example, I have built sculptural objects that are also simple radios, an invisibility cloak, a compass, and a levitating sculpture, all reliant on the special properties of familiar minerals.”

Location and Hours: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday.

A preliminary mock-up of Emily Myers’ Mechanical Rituals. This installation, along with eight others, is part of the new season of exhibitions at the Portland Building.

A preliminary mock-up of Emily Myers’ Mechanical Rituals. This installation, along with eight others, is part of the new season of exhibitions at the Portland Building.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to http://racc.org/installationspace.

Night Lights presents: “You Must Work in the Garden of Eden” by Jackie Davis

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Night Lights returns this month on Thursday, March 3, as a part of Feminist March programming with a live, avant-garde dance/Super-8 film performance presented by Portland-based artist Jackie Davis. You Must Work in the Garden of Eden displays the beauty of everyday routine and the necessity of interpersonal support as two foundations for building the lives we dream of living. 

A visual and auditory pattern of stylized actions, the film investigates daily habits and the profound effects these often subconscious choices have on shaping individual and community cultures. With this site-specific performance, Davis explores conversations and questions pertaining to our collective work and existence – With life as art, how can people look at their habits as repeatedly chosen and reaffirming acts? Who are we, as individuals, standing, breathing and moving around day-to-day? And what upkeep supports our communities/who is doing it? 

About the Artist

Jackie Davis loves to explore performance dynamics and destroy the myth that artists and audiences are distinct. She believes that art production is a deeply collaborative and reciprocal act. A fighter of the cult of the autonomous/exceptional individual, her work highlights regularity, the beauty of the ordinary and the necessity of cooperation. Additionally (and importantly), she views media construction as an act of self-creation.

Night Lights Presents: You Must Work in the Garden of Eden by Jackie Davis
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Dusk (6:30) -8:30
North side of RACC offices, 411 NW Park Avenue

About Night Lights
Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) and The Hollywood Theatre have collaborated to present Night Lights, a series of public art projections displayed monthly in Portland, OR. Join us each First Thursday in the Pearl District for a different projection on the North Wall of the RACC offices (411 NW Park Ave.).

Artwork by Northwest Artist Mary Henry donated to the City collection

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Known for her geometric abstract paintings, American artist Mary Henry (1913-2009) was one of the movement’s steadfast champions. Henry studied under Bauhaus instructor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in Chicago at the Institute of Design in the 1940s. She worked many years as an interior designer and muralist—while raising a family—before moving to Seattle in the 1970s and producing her largest body of work. Although Henry’s work received critical praise and has been collected in a number of museums, she has largely remained a regional cult figure the art world is still learning about. Remarking on the goal of her art, Henry said “I’ve always wanted to create that feeling in my work, of getting down to the nitty-gritty and getting rid of all the things that aren’t important, to get to the essence of life. What do I hope people get from my work? Honesty. Simplicity. I wanted it to be uncomplicated and direct.”

Baba’s Birthday (Diptych) acrylic on canvas (2 panels), 48” H x 72” W x 2.5” (overall), 1993 (pictured) is true to her style, the diptych is comprised of two panels of geometric shapes of black, blue, white, red and her signature yellow. RACC has also acquired a study drawing for this painting. Baba’s Birthday is a gift Suzanne and John Rahn, Henry’s daughter and her husband. Gifts such as this are reviewed by RACC’s Public Art Advisory Committee for their appropriateness to the public collection.

Currently: Mary Henry: The Fabric of Space at Jeffery Thomas Fine Art from March 9-April 30, 2016.

Ray Trayle Print Prize exhibit and opening, March 31 at RACC

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As part of the SGCI Flux Print Conference, RACC is hosting an exhibition of the Ray Trayle Print Prize winners with a reception on Thursday, March 31 from 6 –8 pm. The 2016 prize will be awarded at 6:30. RACC offices are at 411 NW Park Avenue, #Suite 101.

The Ray Trayle Print Prize is an annual award given to a remarkable Northwest printmaker in appreciation of Ray Trayle’s contribution to the art of printmaking. Because of his generosity in the design and fabrication of their hand-tailored printing presses, press owners and regional printmakers came together to create THE RAY TRAYLE PRINT PRIZE. Each year, an outstanding regional printmaker will receive recognition of merit and a cash award in Ray Trayle’s name. Initiated with contributions from grateful printmakers who own Ray Trayle presses, this endowed fund is established under the auspices of the Regional Arts and Culture Council. This is the fifteenth year of the prize. The exhibit will run through May 13, 2016.

 

Portland Building Installation Space: Jenna Reineking’s Installation March 21 – April 15

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Artist Jenna Reineking’s upcoming installation in the lobby of the Portland Building is designed to transform the architecture immediately surrounding it into an “activated” environment; her choice of materials to accomplish this—the humble brown paper lunch bag. “I recently have become interested in creating systems using forms repeated in incremental units that can range from finite to infinite based on the constraints of the space. The choice to use inexpensive, readily accessible materials allows me to create environments that ask the viewer to revalue the mundane. The bags will each be carefully sculpted and adhered one by one in a format that best fits the space. They will “grow” from the corners and utilize the walls, ceiling, and floor.”

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. Jenna Reineking’s Installation runs from March 21 – April 15.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to https://racc.org/public-art/installationspace.

“FMRL,” an installation by Tyler Corbett & Erinn Kathryn at the Portland Building, 2/16—3/11

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PORTLAND, ORE – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is pleased to present FMRL, a new installation by Tyler Corbett and Erinn Kathryn on exhibit February 16 through March 11, 2016 at the Installation Space in the Portland Building. Viewing hours are Monday – Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, or by special appointment.

FMRL is constructed from thousands of ephemeral bits of refuse collected from the streets of Portland’s inner city. Throughout 2015 the artists systematically scoured the sidewalks, bridges and gutters of the downtown and eastside industrial neighborhoods gathering tiny pieces of plastic, paper and metal. The amorphous, fractured fragments are arranged across the walls, floor and ceiling of the Installation Space to form a radiating network of colorful pathways and meandering trails. With careful study individual objects emerge from the sea of trash. The once unrecognizable forms become familiar, yielding an intimate examination of the ubiquitous products and materials that are consumed and discarded in our town.

About the Artists: Interdisciplinary artists Tyler Corbett and Erinn Kathryn are a collaborative team working in Portland, Oregon. Through painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video, they address geography, space and scale. They spend extensive time studying topographical maps, aerial photography and satellite data, and traversing landscapes that are eventually interpreted in their work. Corbett and Kathryn were 2014 RACC Project Grant recipients and as collaborators have had featured exhibitions at the Multnomah Arts Center and Lightbox Kulturhaus in Portland, Lovell Showroom in Astoria, Oregon, and at the Alaska House Gallery in Fairbanks, Alaska. They have participated in group exhibitions at the Peoples Art of Portland Gallery and at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Their work based on Denali National Park has become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of the North in Fairbanks. For more information please visit http://tylercorbett.com and  http://www.erinnkathryn.com

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. FMRL runs from February 16 through March 11, 2016.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to  http://racc.org/installationspace.

Issued by RACC on 2/2/16

RACC celebrates Portland Winter Light Festival on First Thursday with Night Lights: Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest

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WHO: Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), Hollywood Theatre, Portland Winter Light Festival

WHAT: Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest, part of the Night Lights video projection series

WHEN: Thursday February 4 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm

WHERE: RACC, 411 NW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97209. Video projected on the North wall, facing NW Glisan Street

Since September of 2015 RACC and Hollywood Theatre have been collaborating on a First Thursday projection series in the Pearl District called Night Lights. February’s projection is a special collaboration with the Portland Winter Light Festival. Portland artist Fernanda D’Agostino has curated seven Oregon video artists to explore “bodies in motion and bodies at rest” from a wide range of sensibilities.

  • Fernanda D’Agostino investigates both the psychology and science of movement.
  • Penda Diakite analyzes the body as a source of cultural identity and expression.
  • Dancer/Artist Kelly Rauer creates a landscape of movement with her own body as the subject.
  • Julie Perini and Stephen Slappe study the strangeness of everyday experience and how the mundane details of life can take on a sense of mystery.
  • Mack McFarland investigates in his videos the visceral aesthetics and engages viewers in an examination of the nature of perception.
  • Ying Tan’s bodies in motion are sometimes bodies of water or the bodies of other creatures and invite reflection and contemplation.

Their large-scale video projections will be displayed on the large outside wall at RACC and can be viewed from the parking lot.

LINK: PORTLAND WINTER LIGHT FESTIVAL
Issued by RACC on 1/26/16